This photograph is from the ethnographical part of Turkestan Album, a comprehensive visual survey of Central Asia undertaken after imperial Russia assumed control of the region in the 1860s. Commissioned by General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman (1818–82), the first governor-general of Russian Turkestan, the album is in four parts spanning six volumes: “Archaeological Part” (two volumes); “Ethnographic Part” (two volumes); “Trades Part” (one volume); and “Historical Part” (one volume). The principal compiler was Russian Orientalist Aleksandr L. Kun, who was assisted by Nikolai V. Bogaevskii. The album contains some ...

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American writer who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and began his writing career as a newspaperman in Kansas City at the age of 17. His experiences in Europe informed his early novels. Hemingway served with a volunteer ambulance unit in the Alps in World War I, lived in Paris for much of the 1920s, and reported on the Greek Revolution and the civil war in Spain. His sense of these events resulted in The ...

This undated photograph of Blue Springs in Marion County, Florida captures the tranquility offered by Florida’s springs before the rapid development of urban centers in central Florida altered the landscape. Marion County was the location of a U.S. government military agency established in 1825 to oversee displaced Seminoles. White settlers began moving into the area in the early to mid-19th century to take advantage of the abundant farm land and numerous freshwater springs and spring-fed rivers. Trading posts and communities formed around the springs, including what would later ...

This photograph of a scene in Lithuania is from the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection at the Library of Congress. Frank G. Carpenter (1855–1924) was an American writer of books on travel and world geography, whose works helped to popularize cultural anthropology and geography in the United States in the early years of the 20th century. Consisting of photographs taken and gathered by Carpenter and his daughter Frances (1890–1972) to illustrate his writings, the collection includes an estimated 16,800 photographs and 7,000 glass and film negatives ...

This photograph of men fishing in Montenegro is from the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection at the Library of Congress. Frank G. Carpenter (1855–1924) was an American writer of books on travel and world geography, whose works helped to popularize cultural anthropology and geography in the United States in the early years of the 20th century. Consisting of photographs taken and gathered by Carpenter and his daughter Frances (1890–1972) to illustrate his writings, the collection includes an estimated 16,800 photographs and 7,000 glass and film negatives ...

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.

This 1965 photograph, taken near Al-Ain, a desert oasis located approximately 160 kilometers east of the city of Abu Dhabi in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, shows two huntsmen with a dead gazelle and their falcon. Arab peoples traditionally have hunted the gazelle, and the name Abu Dhabi literally means “father of the gazelle” in Arabic. Falconry is both a sport and a means of hunting for food that developed over centuries in the Arab world and elsewhere. Known as the “sport of shaykhs,” falconry was inscribed on the UNESCO ...

This 1965 photograph shows a huntsman with his falcon near Al-Ain, a desert oasis located approximately 160 kilometers east of the city of Abu Dhabi in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Falconry is both a sport and a means of hunting for food that developed over centuries in the Arab world and in other countries. Known as the “sport of shaykhs,” falconry was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010. The photograph is from the Colonel Edward "Tug" Bearby Wilson Collection in ...

This 1960s photograph shows a falconer in front of Qasr Al-Hosn, the traditional fortress residence of the shaykhs of Abu Dhabi. Originally built as a watchtower in about 1761 by Shaykh Dhiyab bin Isa, it was expanded into a small fort in about 1793 by his son, Shaykh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab, and at that time was made the permanent residence of the ruler of Abu Dhabi. It was further expanded in the late 1930s as revenue from oil concessions began to flow, and it remained the main palace of Abu ...

This watercolor by Henry Price (1819–63) depicts men performing a cuelga,a gathering in which men provide work in exchange for food. The men are shown fishing in the Guadalupe River, north of the city of Medellín (present-day Antioquia), Colombia. Price was a British painter and musician who was one of the draftsmen of the Comisión Corográfica (Chorographic Commission), a body tasked with studying the geography, natural resources, natural history, regional culture, and agriculture of the Republic of New Granada (present-day Colombia and Panama). He was born in London ...

This watercolor by Manuel María Paz (1820−1902) shows the different methods of fishing employed by people in Casanare Province (present-day Casanare Department), Colombia. The man identified as a mulatto has caught a large fish with a hook and line, while the Indian uses a bow and arrow. Another man in the background uses a fishing rod. The watercolor is typical of Paz’s work, which captured the diversity of the population of Colombia and depicted the daily activities and traditional customs of the country’s different ethnic, racial, and ...

This watercolor by Manuel María Paz (1820−1902) shows two Correguaje (now usually spelled Koreguaje) men in Caquetá Department, southern Colombia. The standing man aims his bodoquera (blowgun) at his quarry, while the other man prepares to load his blowgun with a dart. The numbers of the Koreguaje have since dwindled to the point that their survival is threatened. The watercolor is typical of Paz’s work, which captured the diversity of the population of Colombia and depicted the daily activities and traditional customs of the country’s different ethnic ...

This print shows shad fishermen working near Philadelphia, across the Delaware River from New Jersey. Several of the men are African American. They stand waist deep in the river, gathering up their catch into a rowboat. Visible in the foreground and background are residential buildings and a local church, a Philadelphia pier, the mills of Gloucester, New Jersey, and sailboats on the river. The print is by James Fuller Queen, a Philadelphia lithographer and pioneer chromolithographer known for his attention to detail who produced many views of the city.